speaker john boehner has accused the obama administration of continuing to block and delay new american energy production and said the democrats running washington need to step up and work with republicans to unlock american energy production that would create jobs and help lower gas prices. wednesday president obama made reference to some of the causes of high energy costs by talking about the impact of december's bipartisan tax compromise. >> that has helped cushion some of the tough stuff that happened in the first six months of this year including the effects on oil prices as a consequence of what happened in the middle east as well as what happened in japan. >> reporter: but with the possibility of more turmoil overseas and more supply problems, domestic oil producers are asking the government to turn them loose. >> we want to create the jobs the president is talking about. we want to generate money for the government and increase our energy security. we have that right here in this country. we can put americans to work and we just need the green light from the white house. >> repo